LANSING — As state lawmakers resume talks Tuesday on hiking the fuel tax or sales tax to raise money to fix Michigan’s crumbling roads, many drivers are pushing back, complaining the state will be throwing good money after bad if it doesn’t address one of the biggest factors chewing up the pavement — heavy trucks.

The state House passed two bills in May targeting trucks. One doubles — and in some cases quintuples — the permit fees for overweight trucks, and another doubles the fines for trucks that operate overweight without a permit.

But the bills approved by the House, part of a proposed $450-million road funding package, have not been taken up by the Senate, which is considering other measures — like the tax hikes — that would raise closer to $1.5 billion a year, which is about the amount Gov. Rick Snyder and many others say is needed.

Whatever happens on roads before the Legislature’s break will likely have to happen this week, as Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, R-Monroe, said he wants to adjourn for the summer on Thursday. If they fail to act this week, lawmakers could get back to it when they return Sept. 9, but the summer construction season would be lost. But those supporting the tighter restrictions on heavy trucks — including the governor — said they are hopeful something can get done soon. The Senate continues to discuss options, and Richardville said he may have a new plan to talk about on Tuesday.

The House action followed a Free Press report in August that documented how Michigan routinely issues permits to trucks that far exceed Michigan’s already highest-in-the-nation gross weight limit of 164,000 pounds — but charges only $50 for each permit. That’s far less than what neighboring states charge for overweight permits. The Free Press also reported that Michigan’s fines for overweight trucks haven’t gone up since 1988.

Rep. Mike McCready, R-Bloomfield Hills, said he hears a familiar refrain from his constituents: “It’s the trucks that are tearing up our roads.”

Snyder said he believes legislation addressing heavy trucks will be part of whatever road funding package the Legislature approves — whenever a deal is finally struck — but the trucking bills raise relatively little revenue, compared with a hike in the fuel tax or sales tax.

While that may be true, Bill Wilson, a retired firefighter who lives in Wyandotte, said the state will continue to pour millions of dollars into short-lived road repairs until the state lowers the weight limits.

“I can’t get my head around a tax increase until they are willing to compromise on the weight issue, and it has to be significant,” said Wilson. Otherwise, “it’s throwing good money after bad.”

Rep. Marilyn Lane, D-Fraser, who has been pushing for higher permit fees and fines for heavy trucks, has introduced a bill that would reduce Michigan’s gross weight limit for trucks by more than 50%, down to the federal limit of 80,000 pounds. She said she has been holding it back as a possible extreme measure if lawmakers won’t take other steps to get the weight problem under control.

“Those that put the most stress on the roads have to pay their fair share,” Lane said. Doubling the overweight permits fees may sound like a big step, she said, but not when the overweight truck might weigh 1 million pounds or more and the permit fee is only going from $50 to $100.

“It’s nothing,” she said.

Richardville has come out in favor of 25-cent-per-gallon gas tax increase over four years, but is exploring other options. He faces two difficult problems with any plan: getting some of his conservative caucus on board, and getting Democrats — who want protections for low-income earners — to support it.

McCready’s House Bill 5452, which was passed by the House and doubles the single-trip permit fee for an overweight truck to $100 from $50 and quintuples the cost of a multi-trip overweight permit to $500 from $100, will generate only about $8.6 million more than the $4 million the state raises now from special truck permits, according to the House Fiscal Agency.

Another bill that passed the House, HB 5453, is expected to raise several million dollars by doubling truck fines. But under the state constitution, most of the $5.2 million in overweight fines generated by the Michigan State Police in 2012 went to county libraries. Revenue from overweight tickets written by local governments also doesn’t help fix state roads.

Still, a House Fiscal Agency analysis said higher fines could have a deterrent effect, which would benefit the roads.

Walter Heinritzi, executive director of the Michigan Trucking Association, said truckers want to pay their fair share and are willing to pay more, but noted the trucking industry already pays much higher registration and other fees than regular motorists pay.

Replacing the 19-cent-per-gallon tax on regular fuel and the 15-cent-per-gallon tax on diesel fuel with a new wholesale tax that will be the same for both trucks and cars — a feature of both the House-passed version and the Senate proposal — will promote greater equity.

What’s a nonstarter for both Heinritzi and the Michigan Department of Transportation — and has not received significant discussion in the Legislature — is reducing Michigan’s gross weight limit from 164,000 pounds to something closer to the federal weight limit of 80,000 pounds.

MDOT officials say it’s not the gross weight but the axle weight that is most important and Michigan requires its heaviest trucks to spread their weight over 11 axles. Reducing the gross weight limit will increase costs and congestion by splitting loads among more trucks without significantly reducing stress on the roads, they say.

The Rev. James Fleming of Rochester Hills, a retired information system auditor for GM, said a large proportion of the heavy trucks that beat up Michigan roads are passing through the state and don’t likely buy fuel here. That’s a problem officials say could be exacerbated if a major fuel tax hike puts Michigan further out of line with neighboring states such as Ohio or Indiana.

“Any increase in our taxes to fix the roads must be coupled with the Michigan State Police and other law enforcement agencies enforcing our laws about weight restrictions,” said Fleming, who wants truck weigh stations around the state that are frequently closed to be kept open 24/7.

McCready said there is good news for Fleming in the state budget now being finalized. It includes $4.4 million to hire 31 additional Michigan State Police motor carrier officers to help enforce the state’s truck weight laws.